Chris Brasher Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com Medals: 1 Gold (1 Total) Biography Before the 1956 Olympics, Chris Brasher, who was educated at Rugby and St John's College, Cambridge, had enjoyed a long track career, winning the 3 miles for Cambridge against Oxford in 1950 and the 5,000 metres in the World Student Games in 1951. It was in 1951 that he made his debut as a steeplechaser and he did well to reach the Olympic final the following year. At the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games he competed for England and was eliminated in the heats of the 1 mile event. In 1955 he represented Britain in three of their five international matches, finishing second to [John Disley] on each occasion, and in 1956 he clinched the place in the Olympic team with a personal best of 8 minutes 47.2 seconds in the match against Czechoslovakia when he was again second to John Disley.

With Disley, Brasher, and [Eric Shirley] all qualifying for the Olympic final, British hopes ran high in Melbourne with Brasher perhaps the least fancied of the three. But from 300 metres out, Brasher launched an unanswerable attack and came home the winner with 12 metres to spare in 8 minutes 41.2 seconds, a new British and Olympic record. However, some hours were to pass before he received his gold medal as he had to survive a protest that he had impeded the Norwegian Ernst Larsen. After the Melbourne Olympics, Chris Brasher retired from athletics and from his job with Mobil Oil to take up the post of Sports Editor of the Observer which had been offered to him before the Games. In 1961 he joined the BBC as a reporter on the Tonight program and in 1969 was appointed head of General Features, Television, but he did not renew his contract in 1972. In later years he was the organizer of the hugely successful London Marathon. Chris married the lawn tennis player Shirley Bloomer, and their daughter was also a successful tournament player.

Personal Best(s): 1500 – 3:53.6 (1954); Mile – 4:06.8 (1955); 3000 – 8:15.4 (1955); 2 miles – 8:45.6 (1956); 3000S – 8:41.2 (1956). Results Chris Brasher by John Bryant · OverDrive: eBooks, audiobooks and videos for libraries Biography & Autobiography Sports & Recreations Nonfiction One of the most remarkable – and controversial – figures sporting figures in British history, Chris Brasher piled unique achievement on unique achievement. It was Chris Brasher who, along with Chris Chataway, paced Roger Bannister to break the 4-minute mile. Then he won his own Olympic Gold Medal in the steeplechase at the 1956 Olympics. Probably best known now for founding the London Marathon, Chris went on to become one of the founders of the modern sports of fell-running and orienteering.. At the Observer, he also effectively invented modern sports feature writing.

Plus, he invented the now-ubiquitous Brasher walking boot, with the revolutionary aim of making heavy boots as comfortable as training shoes. Along the way he built up a highly successful sportswear chain, and even, in later life, a stable of racehorses. But Chris Brasher was also a highly controversial individual: irascible, domineering – a good friend but a bad enemy – and above all a hugely competitive man who had to win in everything he did. Now, John Bryant, who knew Brasher well as a friend, has written the extraordinary story of this impossible and amazing man’s life. Whether you’re a sports journalist, a Lakeland fell-runner, a weekend rambler or one of the 50,000 competitors in the London Marathon, Chris Brasher changed your life. Chris Brasher eBook by John Bryant - 9781845136840 | Kobo Show more Show less One of the most remarkable – and controversial – sporting figures in British history, Chris Brasher piled unique achievement on unique achievement. It was Chris Brasher who, along with Chris Chataway, paced Roger Bannister to break the 4-minute mile.

Then he won his own Olympic Gold Medal in the steeplechase at the 1956 Olympics. Probably best known now for founding the London Marathon, Chris went on to become one of the founders of the modern sports of fell-running and orienteering.. At the Observer, he also effectively invented modern sports feature writing. Plus, he also invented the now-ubiquitous Brasher walking boot, with the revolutionary aim of making heavy boots as comfortable as training shoes. Along the way he built up a highly successful sportswear chain, and even, in later life a stable of racehorses. But Chris Brasher was also a highly controversial individual: irascible, domineering – a good friend but a bad enemy – and above all a hugely competitive man who had to win in everything he did. Now, John Bryant, who knew Brasher well as a friend, has written the extraordinary story of this impossible and amazing man’s life. Whether you’re a sports journalist, a Lakeland fell-runner, a weekend rambler or one of the 50,000 competitors in the London Marathon, Chris Brasher changed your life.

Buy the eBook Drunk athletes: Faster, higher… boozier | The Independent Drunk athletes: Faster, higher… boozier Who can begrudge winning athletes a post-victory bender? Just wait until you're off the podium Thursday 2 August 2012 23:00 BST Click to follow Drunk athletes: Faster, higher… boozier 1/3 You've earnt that! Bradley Wiggins swigs a loosener at the end of the Tour de France Reuters Chris Brasher almost fell of the podium in 1956 Getty Images Flintoff and Pietersen in 2005 PA You've earnt that! Bradley Wiggins swigs a loosener at the end of the Tour de France After winning Olympic gold in 2004, Bradley Wiggins went on a bender. He drank. He put on weight. "I'd lived so religiously in the run-up to Athens," he admitted, "that I just wanted to feel normal again." Today the cycling superstar is older, wiser and weighed down not by body mass, but by medals. Yet that didn't prevent him enjoying a drink or six on Wednesday, following his historic time-trial win.

"Blind drunk at the minute," he tweeted, sharing a photo of himself, vodka in hand. Meanwhile, yesterday's gold winner, shooter Peter Wilson, announced: "I'm going to get very, very drunk and probably do something silly." Who'd begrudge them a bender now? Good humour greeted the sight of a well-oiled England cricket team, fresh from Ashes victory in 2005, stumbling into Downing Street, where, according to Freddie Flintoff's memoir: "The only contact [he] had with the Blairs… was asking Cherie where the toilet was." But there's a time and a place for drunken celebration and this is true for sportspeople more than most. Flintoff was sacked as England's vice-captain two years later, following the notorious "pedalo incident" in the West Indies. The England rugby squad were reprimanded for their behaviour during the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand last year. While their dwarf-tossing and ferry-jumping antics were unbecoming, they might have been forgiven had they taken place after the tournament – especially if England had won it.

"We were really diligent about all the little things that go into a performance," says Steve Trapmore, who won a rowing gold in the coxed eights at the Sydney Games. "We had a saying: 'Will what we're about to do make the boat go faster?' Unfortunately going out and getting plastered doesn't help." When a sportsperson's hard work and discipline are rewarded with victory, they're celebrated for getting sozzled. If they jeopardise their chances with a pre-game booze-up, they're a disgrace. For every Darren Clarke downing a Guinness (as the golfer did after his British Open triumph in 2011), there's a footballer falling out of a nightclub. The Olympics, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a rich source of stories of both alcohol-fuelled celebration and drunken shame. Australian rower Joshua Booth was arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning after allegedly causing "damage to a shop front"; his team failed to win a medal on Wednesday.

Nick Green, Australia's Olympic Commission chef de mission, said: "We understand there was alcohol involved." Twas ever thus: at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, British runner Chris Brasher came first in the 3,000-metre steeplechase, was disqualified for interfering with another runner and a day later re-instated and awarded the gold. "After the appeal committee re-instated me," Brasher recalled, "I went for a liquid lunch with the British media. I recall being drunk on the podium and nearly falling flat on my face as I leant forward, an IOC man attempting to hang a medal around my neck." More about: About 1956 Melbourne | Summer Olympics Games | Olympic Games 1924 - Chamonix, France Summer Olympics - 1956 Melbourne The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1956, apart from the equestrian events, which were held five months earlier in Stockholm.

The 1956 Games were the first to be staged in the Southern Hemisphere and Oceania, as well as the first to be held outside Europe and North America. Melbourne is the southernmost city to host the games. Equestrian events could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations. This was the second Olympics not to be held entirely in one country, the first being the 1920 Summer Olympics, which Antwerp, Belgium co-hosted with Amsterdam and Ostend. Host city selection Melbourne was selected as the host city over bids from Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal and six American cities on 28 April 1949, at the 43rd IOC Session in Rome, Italy. Prelude Many members of the IOC were skeptical about Melbourne as an appropriate site. Its location in the Southern Hemisphere was a major concern, since the reversal of seasons would mean the Games were held during the northern winter. This was thought likely to inconvenience athletes from the Northern Hemisphere, who were accustomed to resting during their winter. Melbourne was selected, in 1949, to host the 1956 Olympics by a one-vote margin.

The first sign of trouble was the revelation that Australian equine quarantine would prevent the country from hosting the equestrian events. Stockholm was selected as the alternative site, so equestrian competition began on 10 June, five and a half months before the rest of the Olympic Games were to open, half a world away. The problems[which?] of the Melbourne Games were compounded by bickering over financing among Australian politicians. Faced with a housing shortage, the Premier of Victoria refused to allocate money for the Olympic Village (eventually sited in Heidelberg West), and the country's Prime Minister barred the use of federal funds. At one point, IOC President Avery Brundage suggested that Rome, which was to host the 1960 Games, was so far ahead of Melbourne in preparations that it might be ready as a replacement site in 1956. As late as April 1955, Brundage was still doubtful about Melbourne, and was not satisfied by an inspection trip to the city. Construction was well under way by then, thanks to a $4.5 million federal loan to Victoria, but it was behind schedule. He still held out the possibility that Rome might have to step in.

By the beginning of 1956, though, it was obvious that Melbourne would be ready for the Olympics. Participation and boycotts Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon announced that they would not participate in the Olympics in response to the Suez Crisis when Egypt was invaded by Israel, the United Kingdom, and France after Egypt nationalised the Suez canal. Meanwhile, in 1956 the Soviet Union crushed the Hungarian Revolution, and the Soviet presence at the Games led to the withdrawal of the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Less than two weeks before the 22 November opening ceremony, the People's Republic of China chose to boycott the event because the Republic of China had been allowed to compete. Although the number of countries participating (67) was almost the same as in 1952 (69), the number of athletes competing dropped sharply, from 4,925 to 3,342. (This figure does not include the 158 athletes from 29 countries who took part in the Stockholm equestrian competition.) Events Once underway, the Games unfolded smoothly, and became known as the "Friendly Games".

Betty Cuthbert, an 18-year-old from Sydney, won the 100- and 200-metre dashes and ran a great final leg in the 4 x 100-metre relay to overcome Great Britain's lead and claim her third gold medal. The veteran Shirley Strickland repeated in the 80-metre hurdles and also ran on the relay team, running her career total to seven, three golds, a silver, and three bronze medals. Australia also did well in swimming. They won all of the freestyle races, men's and women's, and collected a total of eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Murray Rose became the first male swimmer to win two freestyle events since Johnny Weissmuller in 1924, while Dawn Fraser won gold medals in the 100-metre freestyle and as the leadoff swimmer on the 4 x 100-metre relay team. United States men dominated track and field. They not only won 15 of 24 events, they swept four of them and finished first and second in five others.

Bobby Morrow led the way with gold medals in the 100- and 200-metre dashes and the 4 x 100-metre relay. Tom Courtney barely overtook Great Britain's Derek Johnson in the 800-metre run, then collapsed from the exertion and needed medical attention. Vladimir Kuts of the Soviet Union ran away from his competition in the 5,000- and 10,000-metre runs, while Ireland's Ron Delany ran a brilliant 53.8 over the last 400 metres to win the 1,500-metre run, in which favourite John Landy of Australia finished third. There was a major upset, marred briefly by controversy, in the 3,000-metre steeplechase. Little-known Chris Brasher of Great Britain finished well ahead of the field, but judges announced that he was disqualified for interfering with Norway's Ernst Larsen, and they anointed Sándor Rozsnyói of Hungary as the winner. Brasher's appeal was supported by Larsen, Rozsnyói, and fourth-place finisher Heinz Laufer of Germany.

The decision was reversed and Brasher became the first Briton to win a gold medal in track and field since 1936. Only two world records were set in track and field. Mildred McDaniel, the first American woman to win gold in the sport, set a high jump record of 1.76 metres (5.8 ft), and Egil Danielsen of Norway overcame a troublesome wind with a remarkable javelin throw of 85.71 metres (281.2 ft). Throughout the Olympics, Hungarian athletes were cheered by fans from Australia and other countries. Many of them gathered in the boxing arena when thirty-year-old Laszlo Papp of Hungary won his third gold medal by beating José Torres for the light-middleweight championship. A few days later, the crowd was with the Hungarian water polo team in its match against the Soviet Union which became known as the Blood In The Water match. The game became rough and, when a Hungarian was forced to leave the pool with blood streaming from a cut over his eye, a riot almost broke out. But police restored order and the game was called early, with Hungary leading 4–0. The Hungarians went on to win the gold medal.

Despite the international tensions of 1956 – or perhaps because of them – a young Melburnian, John Ian Wing, came up with a new idea for the closing ceremony. Instead of marching as teams, behind their national flags, the athletes mingled with one another as they paraded into and around the arena for a final appearance before the spectators. That began an Olympic tradition that has been followed ever since. Highlights These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Avery Brundage. Hungary and the Soviet Union (engaged in an armed conflict at the time) were both present at the Games which, among other things, led to a hotly contested and violent water polo encounter between the nations. Athletes from both East and West Germany competed in a combined team. This remarkable combination disappeared at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Australian athlete Betty Cuthbert became the "Golden Girl" by winning three track gold medals. Her performance was equalled by sprinter Bobby Morrow. Another Australian, Murray Rose, won three gold medals in swimming. Soviet runner Vladimir Kuts won both the 5000m and 10000m.

Inspired by Australian teenager John Wing, an Olympic tradition began when athletes of different nations are allowed to parade together at the closing ceremony, instead of with their national teams, as a symbol of world unity. During the Games there will be only one nation. War, politics and nationalities will be forgotten. What more could anybody want if the world could be made one nation. Laszlo Papp defended his light-middleweight boxing title, gaining a record third gold. Ronnie Delany won gold for Ireland in the 1500m final. It is the last gold medal Ireland has won in a track event. The India national field hockey team won its sixth consecutive gold. Olympic Flame Relay Torch Relay monument, Cairns The Olympic Flame was relayed to Melbourne after being lit at Olympia on 2 November 1956. The flame was transferred to a miner's lamp then flown by Qantas Super Constellation aircraft "Southern Horizon" to Darwin, Northern Territory. A Royal Australian Air Force English Electric Canberra jet bomber flew it to Cairns, Queensland, where it arrived on 9 November 1956. The Mayor of Cairns, Alderman W.J. Fulton, lit the first torch.

The torch design was – with the exception of the engraved city name and year – identical to the design used for the 1948 London Games. The first runner was Con Verevis, a local man of Greek parentage. The flame was relayed down the east coast of Australia using diecast aluminium torches weighing about 3 pounds (1.8 kg). The flame arrived in Melbourne on 22 November 1956. The Olympic Flame was lit at the stadium by Ron Clarke, burning his arm in the process. When the Olympic Flame was being carried to Sydney, an Australian veterinary student named Barry Larkin carried a fake Olympic Flame and fooled the mayor of Sydney. Number of athletes per country A total of 67 nations competed in Melbourne. Cambodia (that competed only in the equestrian events in Stockholm), Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo (modern-day Sabah of Malaysia), and Uganda made their Olympic debut. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany, an arrangement that would last until 1968. For the first time the team of Republic of China effectively represented only Taiwan.

Egypt did not compete in Melbourne due to the Suez Crisis, whilst Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland all boycotted the Australian event in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The heritage registered former Olympic Pool (now Westpac Centre) from the Yarra River. Buildings from the Olympics The Olympics left Melbourne with some landmark buildings. The Olympic Stand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was demolished in 2004. However, the former Olympic Pool remains as part of the Westpac Centre at the Olympic Park complex. The former athletes' village in Heidelberg West remains as public housing, and the small stadium there is home of local Association Football team Heidelberg United FC. Certain buildings already established by the time the Melbourne Olympics began (such as St Kilda Town Hall, where the fencing events were held, and West Melbourne Stadium (subsequently renamed Festival Hall) still stand.

Marathon man | Sport | The Guardian Athletics Marathon man Of Chris Brasher's many achievements the greatest was founding the London Marathon - the best idea in modern British sport, says athletics correspondent Duncan Mackay Saturday 1 March 2003 19.09 EST First published on Saturday 1 March 2003 19.09 EST Share on Messenger Close No one paid much attention to the bespectacled, gangling third man of Britain's team for the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. Chris Brasher was not expected to win anything. But something happened that day, something extraordinary that changed the life of the man who did so much for British sport. Brasher started near the back but, against all expectations, overhauled his British team-mates, John Disley and Eric Shirley. Then, as the crowd rose to their feet, he began charging after the favourite, Sandor Rozsnyoi of Hungary. On the last straight, his knees buckling with tiredness but somehow finding the courage to keep going, he cleared the final hurdle and put in an astonishing spurt to the line.

Brasher had clinched his place in the Olympic team with a personal best of 8min 47.2sec, finishing second behind Disley in an international match against Czechoslovakia. In the big event, the outsider landed the prize, finishing in a British and Olympic record of 8:41.2. Before the celebrations could begin, though, it was announced that Rozsnyoi was the new champion. The judges disqualified Brasher for impeding the third finisher, Norway's Ernst Laursen, while crossing a barrier. The British lodged a protest and were, remarkably, supported by the three men who had most to gain from Brasher's disqualification: Rozsnyoi, Larsen and Germany's Heinz Laufer, who had finished fourth. After three long hours, the decision was reversed. Britain's 'third man' was reinstated - the only race Brasher ever won for his country, and Britain's only gold on the track in Melbourne. He celebrated in style, and was still tipsy for the medal presentation the following day.

Brasher, all pixie ears and bad teeth, his spectacles gently steaming up from the heat of the race, had finally emerged from the golden shadow of his track contemporaries, Roger Bannister and Chris Chataway. Something had driven him beyond what anyone thought possible. When a man wins an Olympic gold medal at the age of 28, he runs the risk of living the rest of his life in the shadow of that achievement. There was never the faintest possibility of that happening to Brasher. He went on to enjoy a truly fulfilling life in business, in newspapers (as athletics correspondent and sports editor of The Observer he was twice voted sports journalist of the year), as a television executive, and above all as the founder of the London Marathon , the best idea anyone has had in modern British sport.

Brasher was one of life's action men, most alive when time was of the essence and the challenge greatest; a man who well in his seventies was still completing a five-hour orienteering trail on a mountain bike in the Lake District; who as a journalist wrote a 45,000-word book on the 1968 Olympics in six days, dictating to secretaries who worked in relays; a businessman who made himself a millionaire. He truly was a buccaneer of the second Elizabethan age. Brasher was a man who, above all, knew what he wanted. Born to Katie and William Brasher, a distinguished official in the colonial service, in British Guiana, Brasher made an unpromising start for a world-class athlete, suffering from food allergies and bronchial problems. At Cambridge, where he studied geology, he began to discover the athletic abilities that were to culminate in his acting as pacemaker for Bannister in the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954 and winning in Melbourne two years later. But the track did not consume him wholly.

By the time he left Cambridge at 22 he had led two expeditions to the Arctic, and in the afterglow of his Olympic success he became an oil executive with Mobil. In 1958, a year after taking the position of sports editor at The Observer , Brasher married the darling of British tennis, Shirley Bloomer, then ranked number three in the world. She was wealthy, attractive and said 'Yes' when Brasher proposed on a staircase outside her flat one Sunday night. She was married in a dress designed for her by the renowned couturier Teddy Tinling. Roger Bannister, now Sir Roger, was best man. The couple moved to one of suburban London's most desirable houses, Navigator's House in Petersham, near Richmond, for which they paid £12,000. They lived there until a few years ago. The course Brasher steered was a successful one, although it might be argued that while he undoubtedly made the London Marathon, it also made him. In 1970 he and Disley, the man who should have beaten him in Melbourne but who continued to be a great friend, and co-founder of the Marathon, went into partnership.

Selling orienteering compasses, they set up The Sweatshop, a sports outfitter in south-west London, and eventually a sports shoe distribution company whose turnover grew to £35 million. By 1979, both men were millionaires. That year, Brasher took part in the New York City Marathon, born of the running and fitness phenomenon that was about to become big business on both sides of the Atlantic. After the race he wrote in The Observer : 'To believe this story you must believe that the human race can be one joyous family, working together, laughing together, achieving the impossible... the greatest folk festival the world has seen.' He imparted his vision of a London race in which his passions for running and organising could be combined with, of course, the possibility of making serious money. This, as Brasher saw it, could be used to develop sports facilities in London and the marathon was conceived from the beginning as a charity. He wrote 12 years ago: 'When the London Marathon was born in The Observer offices in 1980...

we had six objectives: to improve the standard and status of marathon running in Britain; to show that, on occasions, the Family of Man can be united; to prove that when it came to staging major events, Britain is best; to help London tourism; to have fun and provide happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world; and to raise money for the provision of much-needed recreational facilities in London.' Brasher had a long record of campaigning for better training opportunities for athletes. When he returned to London after his Olympic success, the borough of Kensington, where his parents had a mansion flat in Earl's Court, threw him a civic reception. He astonished dignitaries by throwing a personal cheque for £25 on to the lunch table, challenging the well-heeled guests to match it to create a training centre for runners. In the 1950s one did not don shorts and singlets and take to the streets. Thanks to Brasher's persistence, however, on 29 March 1981, around 6,500 people did precisely that. The London Marathon was born, set to become a metropolitan rite of spring, a cheery signal that the year's dark corner has been turned.

Four days before that first race, Brasher had toured the course with his great friend Ian Wooldridge, not in running shoes but in the back of a limousine hired by the Daily Mail. As Wooldridge recalled yesterday: 'The boot was loaded with champagne, we called at several prominent pubs for refreshers down in the Isle of Dogs stretch and had a lingering lunch at an excellent restaurant near Tower Bridge. Our time was something like 8hr 27min 43sec, considerably outside the record. ' "Splendid," said Brasher. "I think we need a nightcap." We repaired to a Fleet Street bar where Brasher consumed a further two large gins and tonic, mysteriously produced a tracksuit and running shoes from a bag and set off on the run back to his home nine miles away in Richmond.' Less than 100 hours later, Brasher, aged 51, ran the Marathon in under three hours. It should be remembered that before Brasher came along the marathon was the precious preserve in Britain of a highly trained elite. It was the toughest event on the Olympic programme: men died attempting to complete it.

The idea was based on an apocryphal tale of a Greek messenger who expired after running from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a victorious battle. To think that the couch potatoes of the video age might be tempted to train for and run such a distance, to bare their frailties in public, was unthinkable. From the first, it was Brasher's marathon. The Observer had paid for him to go to New York and Boston to find out how the Americans did it. The speed of it all - from first thought to starting pistol in 17 months - was Brasher's style. Sir Horace Cutler, then leader of the now abolished Greater London Council, gave his blessing only after issuing Brasher with a warning. 'Never ask us to bail it out and never let it cost the ratepayers a penny,' he said. It never has, and the boroughs through which it passes have benefited by fortunes from the profits. For that first race, Brasher needed £75,000 and it was only through sponsorship, initially £50,000 from Gillette, that it became possible. He used his contacts to bring in world-class athletes and, later, the BBC, who paid for sole television rights.

Brasher's grip never relaxed as the London Marathon grew to rival and then overtake the great New York race, with more than 30,000 runners and a budget of £5m. One moment he would be firing off an angry letter to the BBC because he did not like their coverage, next he would be ordering a bemused spectator to unblock a drain that had created a large puddle on the course. The colourful stream of humanity that ran the course of 26 miles 385 yards between Greenwich and Westminster was his creation. And in the bobbing tide of faces, Brasher often featured. Yet, while Brasher may have given the air of an eccentric old buffer with a hobgoblin face, eternally crumpled anorak and spotted neckerchief who, to the public, was a folk hero, his personal style frequently left people thinking his running shoes had ridden over them roughshod. He would reduce staff to tears with his verbal abuse and legend are the tales of the employees he forced out of the London Marathon because he had no time for them.

He even forced out David Bedford, the former world 10,000m record holder, until they were reconciled many years later. Even the Soviet authorities at the height of the Cold War quaked in his presence. When Moscow police prevented him from running where he wanted to during the 1980 Olympics, he demanded a formal apology from the Kremlin - and got it. On another occasion, he bypassed the Kensington Palace staff when they delayed a decision on whether Princess Diana would start the 1988 London Marathon. He had no trouble finding the right number to dial direct and secure Diana's agreement. And when he was stranded on a train from Euston that came to an unscheduled halt he called Sir Peter Parker, chairman of British Rail, and told him to sort it out. Two minutes later the train was on its way. 'He runs through problems head-on,' an early collaborator said. 'You went with him, or you got out of the way fast.

He did not brook those who had other ideas.' A High Court judge, summing up in a defamation case that cost the BBC and Brasher £30,000 while he was head of factual documentaries, suggested that he 'listened with deaf ears to others' arguments'. At The Observer there was an occasion when the office lawyer edited out what he saw as a libel in Brasher's copy. When Brasher heard, he went to the composing room and reinstated it. In 1982, he turned down an honour from Margaret Thatcher because of the prime minister's antipathy towards sport. 'Couldn't take it off that bloody woman,' he said. 'She did nothing for British sport.' It is to the discredit of every subsequent government that he was never knighted. It was probably the biggest regret of his life that he was never Sir Christopher Brasher. In recent years, although he remained president of the London Marathon, Brasher was rarely involved in organising the race and was said to be unhappy with certain elements of it. Instead he had turned to another love of his life, horse racing. He moved to Newbury and was in charge of two partnerships of owners and a leading representative of the racehorse Owners Association.

His love of racing had started when he was at school and, in 1946, had sixpence each-way on Airborne in The Derby. It won at 50-1 (unlike his last tip for The Observer sports desk). 'When I have Coe, Ovett and Cram in a race, my binoculars are steady as I watch,' Brasher recounted in an interview with British Runner last year. 'But for horse racing, I have had to buy a new pair where if I press a button, it takes the judder out of them!' The official British Olympic magazine of the time of his gold medal in Melbourne found nothing more flattering to say about Brasher than 'heavy shoulders, thick thighs, solid frame, almost bulldoggish. And typically English, game to the last.' Brasher was far more than that: a remarkable, unique man. Who else could have created a race so formidable, so wonderful, so inspiring as the London Marathon? There was only one Chris Brasher.

Chris Brasher died on Friday at the age of 74 Olympic Games - 1956 Melbourne, Australia - About Sports Olympic Games – 1956 Melbourne, Australia 1956 Melbourne, Australia The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations. Instead, those events were held five months earlier in Stockholm, Sweden, marking the second time that events of the same Olympics were held in different countries. (At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, one sailing event had been held in Dutch waters because of water quality). The 1956 Games were the first to be staged in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as the first to be held outside Europe and North America. Initial Concerns of the Melbourne Olympics Many members of the IOC were sceptical about Melbourne as an appropriate site. Its location in the Southern Hemisphere was a major concern, since the reversal of seasons would mean the Games were held during the northern winter.

This was thought likely to inconvenience athletes from the Northern Hemisphere who were accustomed to resting during their winter. Melbourne was selected, in 1949, to host the 1956 Olympics by a one-vote margin. The first sign of trouble was the revelation that Australian equine quarantine would prevent the country from hosting the equestrian events. Stockholm was selected as the alternate site, so equestrian competition began on 10 June, five and a half months before the rest of the Olympic games were to open, half the world away. The problems of the Melbourne Games were compounded by bickering over financing among Australian politicians. Faced with a housing shortage, the Premier of Victoria refused to allocate money for the Olympic Village (eventually sited in Heidelberg West), and the country’s Prime Minister barred the use of federal funds. At one point, IOC President Avery Brundage suggested that Rome, which was to host the 1960 Games, was so far ahead of Melbourne in preparations that it might be ready as a replacement site in 1956. As late as April 1955, Brundage was still doubtful about Melbourne, and was not satisfied by an inspection trip to the city.

Construction was well underway by then, thanks to a $4.5 million federal loan to Victoria, but it was behind schedule. He still held out the possibility that Rome might have to step in. By the beginning of 1956, though, it was obvious that Melbourne would be ready for the Olympics. Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon announced that they would not participate in the Olympics in response to the Suez Crisis when Egypt was invaded by Israel, the United Kingdom, and France after Egypt nationalised the Suez canal. Meanwhile, in 1956 the Soviet Union crushed the Hungarian Revolution, and the Soviet presence at the Games led to the withdrawal of the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Less than two weeks before the 22 November opening ceremony, the People’s Republic of China chose to boycott the event because the Republic of China had been allowed to compete under the name “Formosa”. Although the number of countries participating (67) was almost the same as in 1952 (69), the number of athletes competing dropped sharply, from 4,925 to 3,342.

(This figure does not include the 158 athletes from 29 countries who took part in the Stockholm equestrian competition.) Highlights of the Melbourne Olympics Once underway, the Games unfolded smoothly, and became known as the “Friendly Games”. Betty Cuthbert, an 18-year-old from Sydney, won the 100- and 200-metre dashes and ran a great final leg in the 4 x 100-metre relay to overcome Great Britain’s lead and claim her third gold medal. The veteran Shirley Strickland repeated in the 80-metre hurdles and also ran on the relay team, running her career total to seven, three golds, a silver, and three bronze medals. But it was in swimming that the Australians really shone. They won all of the freestyle races, men’s and women’s, and collected a total of eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals.

Murray Rose became the first male swimmer to win two freestyle events since Johnny Weissmuller in 1924, while Dawn Fraser won gold medals in the 100-metre freestyle and as the leadoff swimmer on the 4 x 100-metre relay team. Controversial judging prevented the United States from winning all four diving events, which had become almost customary. Pat McCormick again took gold medals in both the springboard and the platform, and Bob Clotworthy won the men’s springboard. However, Gary Tobian was given unusually low scores by the Soviet and Hungarian judges, and he finished second by just .03 to Mexico’s Joaquim Capilla in the platform event. United States men dominated track and field. They not only won 15 of 24 events, they swept four of them and finished first and second in five others. Bobby Morrow led the way with gold medals in the 100- and 200-metre dashes and the 4 x 100-metre relay. Tom Courtney barely overtook Great Britain’s Derek Johnson in the 800-metre run, then collapsed from the exertion and needed medical attention.

Vladimir Kuts of the Soviet Union ran away from his competition in the 5,000- and 10,000-metre runs, while Ireland’s Ron Delaney ran a brilliant 53.8 over the last 400 metres to win the 1,500-metre run, in which favourite John Landy of Australia finished third. There was a major upset, marred briefly by controversy, in the 3,000-metre steeplechase. Little-known Chris Brasher of Great Britain finished well ahead of the field, but judges announced that he was disqualified for interfering with Norway’s Ernst Larsen, and they anointed Sándor Rozsnyói of Hungary as the winner. Brasher’s appeal, remarkably, was supported by Larsen, Rozsnyói, and fourth-place finisher Heinz Laufer of Germany. The decision was reversed and Brasher became the first Briton to win a gold medal in track and field since 1936. Only two world records were set in track and field.

Mildred McDaniel, the first American woman to win gold in the sport, set a high jump record of 5 feet 91⁄4 inches (1.759 m) and Egil Danielsen of Norway overcame a troublesome wind with a remarkable javelin throw of 281 feet 21⁄2 inches (85.712 m). Throughout the Olympics, Hungarian athletes were cheered by fans from Australia and other countries. Many of them gathered in the boxing arena when thirty-year-old Laszlo Papp of Hungary won his third gold medal by beating José Torres for the light-middleweight championship. A few days later, the crowd was with the Hungarian water polo team in its match against the Soviet Union which became known as the Blood In The Water match. The game became rough and, when a Hungarian was forced to leave the pool with blood streaming from a cut over his eye, a riot almost broke out. But police restored order and the game was called early, with Hungary leading 4–0. The Hungarians went on to win the gold medal.

Despite the international tensions of 1956 – or perhaps because of them – a young Melburnian, John Ian Wing, came up with a new idea for the closing ceremony. Instead of marching as teams, behind their national flags, the athletes mingled with one another as they paraded into and around the arena for a final appearance before the spectators. That began an Olympic tradition that has been followed ever since. After the Melbourne Olympics A total of 67 nations competed in Melbourne. Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo (modern-day Sabah of Malaysia), and Uganda made their Olympic debut. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany, an arrangement that would last until 1968. For the first time the team of Republic of China effectively represented only Taiwan. The Olympics left Melbourne with some landmark buildings. The Olympic Stand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was demolished in 2004. However, the former Olympic Pool remains as part of the Westpac Centre at the Olympic Park complex. The former athlete’s village in Heidelberg West, Victoria remains as public housing.

St Kilda Town Hall, where the fencing events were held, also still remains. Chris Brasher by John Bryant Chris Brasher by John Bryant The Man Who Made the London Marathon Description One of the most remarkable – and controversial – sporting figures in British history, Chris Brasher piled unique achievement on unique achievement. It was Chris Brasher who, along with Chris Chataway, paced Roger Bannister to break the 4-minute mile. Then he won his own Olympic Gold Medal in the steeplechase at the 1956 Olympics. Probably best known now for founding the London Marathon, Chris went on to become one of the founders of the modern sports of fell-running and orienteering.. At the Observer, he also effectively invented modern sports feature writing. Plus, he also invented the now-ubiquitous Brasher walking boot, with the revolutionary aim of making heavy boots as comfortable as training shoes. Along the way he built up a highly successful sportswear chain, and even, in later life a stable of racehorses.

But Chris Brasher was also a highly controversial individual: irascible, domineering – a good friend but a bad enemy – and above all a hugely competitive man who had to win in everything he did. Now, John Bryant, who knew Brasher well as a friend, has written the extraordinary story of this impossible and amazing man’s life. Whether you’re a sports journalist, a Lakeland fell-runner, a weekend rambler or one of the 50,000 competitors in the London Marathon, Chris Brasher changed your life. Chris Brasher - John Bryant - E-bok (9781845136840) | Bokus Chris Brasher Spara som favorit One of the most remarkable and controversial figures sporting figures in British history, Chris Brasher piled unique achievement on unique achievement. It was Chris Brasher who, along with Chris Chataway, paced Roger Bannister to break the 4-minute mile. Then he won his own Olympic Gold Medal in the steeplechase at the 1956 Olympics. Probably best known now for founding the London Marathon, Chris went on to become one of the founders of the modern sports of fell-running and orienteering..

At the Observer, he also effectively invented modern sports feature writing. Plus, he invented the now-ubiquitous Brasher walking boot, with the revolutionary aim of making heavy boots as comfortable as training shoes. Along the way he built up a highly successful sportswear chain, and even, in later life, a stable of racehorses. But Chris Brasher was also a highly controversial individual: irascible, domineering a good friend but a bad enemy and above all a hugely competitive man who had to win in everything he did. Now, John Bryant, who knew Brasher well as a friend, has written the extraordinary story of this impossible and amazing mans life. Whether youre a sports journalist, a Lakeland fell-runner, a weekend rambler or one of the 50,000 competitors in the London Marathon, Chris Brasher changed your life. (Bookdata)

Question: In which event did Chris Brasher win his gold medal in the 1956 Olympics?
Answer: Steeplechase